Will Jennings, Co-writer of ‘My Heart Will Go On,’ ‘Tears in Heaven’ and Other Classics, Dies at 80

Will Jennings, an Oscar winner for “My Coronary heart Will Go On” and “Up The place We Belong” and top-of-the-line recognized lyricists within the up to date songwriting neighborhood, has died, his longtime writer confirms to Selection. No reason behind dying was introduced, though he had been unwell for a while; he was 80.

Though the themes he co-wrote for “Titanic” (recorded by Celine Dion) and “An Officer and a Gentleman” (sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes) gained him his two Academy Awards, Jennings was equally famend for a 3rd movie music, “Tears in Heaven” (carried out by Eric Clapton), from the film “Rush,” which gained him a Golden Globe for greatest authentic music in addition to Grammys for report of the yr and music of the yr. He additionally gained three Grammy Awards.

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Jennings additionally had main hits with songs recorded by Whitney Houston, Steve Winwood, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow and Tim McGraw, amongst others.

Jennings’ affiliation with Steve Winwood was a very fruitful one, producing two No. 1 hits, “Increased Love” and “Roll WIth It,” in addition to “Again within the Excessive Life Once more” and “Don’t You Know What the Night time Can Do.”

Houston took “DIdn’t We Nearly Have It All” to No. 1, and Manilow did the identical with “Appears to be like Like We Made It,” to call two of Jennings’ most indelible pop classics.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2006, and was subsequently made a member of the Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame as effectively.

Singer Peter Wolf paid tribute to his pal on social media. “A tragic time, the passing of Will Jennings, a maestro, good thoughts and a delicate spirit,” the previous J. Geils Band frontman wrote. “Will shared his skills with me, ever affected person and beneficiant; he was a treasured pal and trainer, enriching my life in so some ways. It was an unlimited honor to have labored with such a musical genius for therefore a few years… To cite one among his favourite poets, W.B Yeats, ‘Suppose the place man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such associates.’”

In 2023, Jennings’ music catalog was collectively acquired by All Clear Music and the Fuji Music Group. Though phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed, Billboard the worth of the catalog at $60-70 million.

Different artists who recorded Jennings’ work or co-wrote with him embody Roy Orbison, Mariah Carey, B.B. King, Rodney Crowell, Diana Ross, Religion Hill, Jimmy Buffett and Joe Pattern, the final of whom co-wrote the basic “Road Life,” as recorded by Randy Crawford and the Crusaders.

Of his work on “Titanic,” Jennings instructed Songfacts, “I had met this very vibrant girl who was about 101 years outdated once I met her. That was two years earlier than. And she or he got here into my thoughts. And I spotted she might have been on the Titanic. So I wrote every thing from the standpoint of an individual of an important age wanting again so a few years. And it was the love story that made the movie, in fact. It was magnificently carried out with particular results, the actors have been good. However the love story was what it was.”

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